sick of all the games i have to play
by not.so.tragically
Summary: \\they were meant to be, so of course, it wasn't easy


_"Tired of being careful, tip-toe, trying to keep the water warm; Why do I always spill?"_

* * *

She hadn't meant for it to come out. It just did. It was an accident.

Of course a lot of things are accidents.

Tripping, spilling milk, knocking over books.

Accidents.

Not totally earth shattering, life-ruining, terrible, relationship-wrecking, accidents.

But what Maya just did was.

To say the least, she had just reversed the Earth's rotation.

* * *

 _Maya Hart is a big girl. She is 16 years old for Christ's sake. She knows control._

 _But, right now Lucas has his fingers locked around her waist and she's giggling so hard her face is red._

 _"Put me down!" She wants to sound seriously angry, but her voice wavers under her laughter. She beats her hands against his back, trying to get him to put her back on the floor. "Huckleberry."_

 _"Promise me you'll stay." Lucas is laughing too, but he's still gripping her tightly. "Promise!"_

 _"Huckleberry!"_

 _"Promise!"_

 _She's laughing too hard to continue fighting, and breathes out a 'fine', so he'll let her down._

 _Riley, Farkle, and Zay watch this exchange from their respective positions in the cafeteria, all wearing nearly similar expressions._

 _This kind of interaction was common for the pair as they all grew up. They became more hands on with each other. Maya's light jabs turned into physical ones into his biceps, poking him square in the chest as they argued, shoving him playfully just for fun. Lucas' frequent need to hold her back from altercations with people, became more casual, locking an arm around her waist to get her attention, throwing her over his shoulder when he wanted to, letting an arm fall over her shoulder when they sat together. It was not as guarded as it used to be, it turned friendly, and the angry stares turned to prolonged gazes, and quick punches turned to light squeezes and it was confusing for everyone._

 _After all, Lucas did have a girlfriend._

 _Maya's best friend._

 _Riley and Lucas were Corpanga. They were meant to be, it was so obvious. The couple held similar interests, with had kind hearts, and warm smiles. They were so much alike._

 _Who didn't like a summer rain?_

 _But, Lucas touched Maya more than he did Riley._

 _'It was just how it was,' Riley'd tell herself. 'They were friends, that's what friends do.'_

 _So she tried not to let her expression turn sour when Maya returned to her spot in between Lucas and Zay, face lightly pink from laughter._

 _Maya's attempted exit had been thwarted by Lucas and so she picked a fry off his plate, rolling her eyes at him. "And now you're going to eat my food?"_

 _"You wanted me to stay, this is what you deal with." So, she drops the fry in her mouth, eyeing him dangerously._

 _"I'll deal with it. Considering I just won." It's a low blow, but Maya's easily riled up by him, so it becomes an argument._

 _"You did not win!"_

 _"You stayed didn't you?"_

 _"Because you threw me over you shoulder like some caveman in the middle of the cafeteria!" She's laughing again and he starts grinning at the sound._

 _Farkle and Zay continued a conversation with Riley, who halfheartedly paid attention. Her eyes focused on the interaction between her best friend and her boyfriend. The ill-concealed smirks, the daring glints in their eyes, the lingering glances, she saw it. She sees him take up a darker expression when Maya talks to him, she hears Maya's voice change from grinding gears to smooth butter._

 _It was flirting in the least. Anyone could see that._

 _You don't interrupt, you don't help, you don't mediate, you just watch._

 _She reaches for another fry and he grabs her hand. It's meant to stop her, but instead it causes a sort of electricity only they can make together. They hold a teasing stare for a few seconds, before he lets go. Her hand doesn't move from the spot, though._

 _"My fries."_

 _"So?"_

 _She tosses the fry in her mouth, watching him as she chews. "You're the worst. You know that?" He chuckles, never letting his eyes leave hers._

 _"I think I'm the best, actually."  
_

 _"I beg to differ."_

 _"C'mon, don't be a sore loser."_

* * *

She swears she can hear own heart beating in her ears.

Maya's too scared to look anywhere but her shaking hands.

 _How could she have done that?_

All her life, she's been able to keep it all together.

Now, it was all falling apart.

In mere seconds, the world stopped, and the breath had been knocked out of her.

She knows she's about to lose her best friend.

Everything happened to fast.

"Riles...I"

"Did you seriously just say that?"

"Riley, I didn't mean to _—_ "

"How low will you stoop to get him?!"

"What!? Do you seriously just think I said that just to get him?"

* * *

 _"Riley, it's a joke!"_

 _"For the third time?!"_

 _"It's funny!"_

 _"Do you see me laughing?!"_

 _Maya and Lucas had been once again selected cutest couple in their grade. It's happened their last year of middle school, and their first and second year of high school. Now, on 18th page of Riley's yearbook was Maya settled into Lucas' tight embrace. The photo, however, was completely out of context._

 _The varsity baseball team had finally won regionals for the first time in six years and Maya had to be there, supporting her friend, because Riley had to study for her AP Exam. After the game, Lucas ran up to her, sweaty and adrenaline charged, and locked her in his arms. Naturally, her arms went around his neck, and she let him cradle her, even though he smelled like dirt and honey. One of the yearbook photographers just so happened to be there, that's all._

 _"Honey, it's just a joke." Maya sighed. She was running out of reassuring things to say._

 _She couldn't help it if the whole school, upper and underclassmen alike, seemed to think Lucas and her were a couple. Everyone had one of two mindsets. Either her and Lucas were dating, or they should be._

 _So, of course they would put this as a picture in the yearbook. No, it most definitely not a joke. But, after a few years it was kind of funny to her and Lucas._

 _They were close friends, really close. She could count on him for pretty much anything. Even if it meant helping her lug her painting back to her apartment after an art show as it neared midnight. Or buying her pink lemonade ice cream on a Wednesday night, because it was the one thing she craved during her period._

 _But, he could rely on her as well. That meant helping him pass art class, even if he couldn't tell the difference between oil pastels and wax crayons. Or attending the sports banquet with him because Riley had pneumonia and he couldn't show up alone._

 _They were close. He was her best friend._

 _But, Riley was her sister._

 _"I'll make sure this never happens again, and I'll personally beat up the yearbook editor for you, too."_

 _Riley gives an airy laugh at Maya's 5 foot 4 frame and shakes her head. The feisty blonde hadn't grown since the sixth grade, she weighed 109 pounds wet, still, nobody dared to mess with her or Riley._

 _"Alright, Peaches."_

 _The boys soon joined their lunch table as Maya gave Riley's hand a small squeeze and smiled toward the brunette._

 _Maya made sure she stayed engaged in a conversation with Zay and Farkle as long as she could, just to make sure Riley and Lucas could talk. Still, when she swung her foot to adjust her position, her boot tagged Lucas' foot for a second. When she turned back to her discussion with Zay, Lucas tapped her ankle lightly with his foot. She knew he wasn't calling her attention, so she knocked his foot back. It quickly turned into a friendly exchange of kicks underneath the table, until Lucas had trapped her feet between his and she couldn't move them._

 _"Are you guys playing **footsie**?" Zay's voice draws Maya out of her intense concentration and brings her back to reality. Each member of the table took their time to look underneath and see Maya's feet between Lucas' ankles. Lucas' face reddens and Maya clears her throat as she returns back to her original sitting position. Farkle tries to hide a laugh in his cough while Zay holds a knowing grin on his face. Riley plasters a tight smile on her face before letting her eyes turn dark._

 _"Maya, Bay window. 2 hours." Her tone isn't as cheery as it usually is, so Maya only nods and turns back to her conversation with Zay._

 _The Bay window has never been less than a peaceful place where they could calmly resolve issues._

 _But, today was different, everyone could feel it._

 _Even, Auggie held his breath as Maya and Riley walked to her room in silence._

 _Maya took her place next to Riley and stared down at her hands. Neither wants to start, so Maya lets Riley take the plunge._

 _"Footsie?"_

 _"It was an accident, Riles."_

 _"Okay."_

 _It's silent again and it's eating Maya up inside. She hates the quiet, but she knows the storm is brewing._

 _"Why does he touch you more than me?"_

 _"What?"_

 _"He touches you, throws you over his shoulder, grabs your arms, he barely wants to hold my hand."  
_

 _"No, no, no, honey. He's just...he's more gentle with you. You're...you're his princess, princesses have to be handled gently."_

 _Lame, Maya._

 _"Do you like him?"_

 _She answers without hesitation. "Of course, I do. He's my friend."_

 _"Okay."_

 _Silence invades the space again, and Maya fidgets._

 _"You know I love you right?"_

 _"Yes, and I love you too."_

 _"Alright."_

 _Her phone buzzes in her pocket, and she knows it's him. She told him they'd meet a his house to study for a chemistry test. This time it isn't entirely on her because even though she spent half the unit sleeping on him, he spent the other half playing in her hair. Sometimes the two would overlap and she'd fall asleep as he'd play in her hair and she wake up with various braids in different places. She'd never bother to take them out, claiming she was too lazy to do it herself. So then it would become her sitting on the bench in the library taking notes for chemistry from his textbook, while he undid the braids and twists he put in her hair hours earlier._

 _"That's him right?"_

 _"We have a chemistry test on Friday."_

 _"Okay."_

* * *

Maya's spent almost her whole life holding back in the worst way possible.

Sitting on a time bomb.

Waiting for the clock to run out.

She knew the words would spill, and all hell would break loose.

It really was only a matter of time.

The words had tumbled out in an angry rush, and she didn't even know she said it, until it was too late to take it back.

"Well, why else would you have said that?"

Maya was beyond angry, she could barely hear Riley over the blood beating in her ears. "Maybe, oh, I don't know, that just might be possibly, how I feel!"

"No you don't!" Riley's face was red, and her arms were clenched at her sides. She knew with all the yelling, her parents would burst in any second.

"Are you telling me how I feel?! You don't know how I feel!"

"Because you never told me! You just let me fall blindly when you've been keeping secrets from me!"

"Why in the hell would I tell you something like that if I knew it would ruin your happiness? I shut my mouth to keep you happy, even if it came at the expense of my own!"

* * *

 _Maya was hurricane, and Lucas had finally broken past the thunderclouds surrounding her and made it into the eye._

 _It happened the night of her birthday, on the subway back home from an art gala the Matthews took her to. They offered to let her stay the night, but she already felt bad that they spent hundreds of dollars to get her, Lucas, Zay and the rest of the clan inside. She knew it wasn't any of her friends ideal way to spend a Saturday night, but if they were unhappy she couldn't tell._

 _If anyone asked her favorite part was Zay trying discern what he saw in paintings to her._

 _She had come up behind him as he looked at 'Wet, Muddy Dog Ruins White Carpet', he then played tour guide for her, leading her through 'Spaghetti and Meatball Mess', 'Splattered Fly On The Wall', 'Lindsay Lohan's Breakdown', and 'Frosty The Puddle'. Her hand was glued to her mouth to keep her fits of laughter in her throat._

 _Easily, that was her favorite part._

 _But, the best part was the subway ride home with Lucas. The subway car was pretty much empty when they boarded (save for a sleeping grandpa), so she was able to sit down and kick off her beautiful yet painful heels._

 _"Enjoyed yourself?" He asked, taking a seat next to her._

 _"More than I have in a long time. It was fun."_

 _Lucas sighed deeply causing Maya to look up at him through the frizzy mess her hair had become._

 _"What is it?"_

 _"See," He started, turning to her. "I have this gift that I got for you, because I saw it and I thought, she'd totally love this. So, it just felt like this absolutely spectacular gift, and I wanted to give it to you at this absolutely spectacular time, because...well, you're an absolutely spectacular person. But, I don't know, the time just hasn't felt right yet."_

 _"Oh."_

 _"So, I guess I'll just have to be creative."_

 _Maya raises her eyebrows in question as she watches Lucas walk to the end of the subway car, and take a deep breath. He then starts doing some horrible line dance, while humming some country song to her. He does a turn past her and begins to do si do, and she's laughing too hard at him. Lucas continues dancing to the other end of the car and back in front of her still humming._

 _He then stops in front of her, and tips his imaginary cowboy hat. "M'am."_

 _She plays along, and adds the fake accent for his amusement. "Oh, well, Friar, you got me blushin' like a junebug in August." Maya has no clue what she said, or if it makes any sense, but by the way Lucas laughs she knows she said something funny. "Why are you all gussied up like this?"_

 _"Ms. Hart, I've got myself all gussied up like this, 'cause I was fixin' to give you a gift."_

 _"Oh? Really now?"_

 _Lucas produces a velvet box from the pocket of his jacket and takes his seat next to her once more. "Happy Birthday, Maya." He opens the box and watches her face to gauge her reaction._

 _She doesn't speak at all, she simply stares at the gift in the box._

 _"Okay, so you totally hate it, I lied about the spectacular gift. I was wrong."_

 _"No!" She rushes quickly. "No, I just_ _—_ _I, wow. This is_ _—_ _wow. You got this for me?"_

 _She's almost afraid to take up the necklace, the art easel on the end catches a ray of the fluorescent subway lighting, and she can tell it's a locket it from it's thickness, and she's desperate to know what's inside._

 _"Open it."_

 _With shaking hands, she takes up the gift, lightly pushing on the side of the charmed easel, to let it snap open. Inside, is Maya laughing and covered in paint wearing one of Lucas' white shirts as a smock, Riley is next to her grinning widely, pointing to the pink paint in Maya's hair, with purple paint on her hands. Farkle's behind her, hair plastered with orange paint, mouth open, most likely talking, and Zay's next to him with a red paint print on his face, looking surprised. Lucas stands slightly off to the side, watching his friends with a smile on his face._

 _"It's from the day we tried to paint with you."_

 _"All Riley could do was purple cats."_

 _"All Farkle could do was geometric shapes."_

 _"Zay did hand turkeys the whole time, and so I dipped my hand in the paint and slapped him with it."_

 _"Then, he grabbed orange paint and tried to throw it on you."_

 _"But, he missed and got Farkle instead."_

 _"And it was an all out paint war from there." He finishes._

 _She shakes her head and looks back up at him. "Janitor Harley took this before we cleaned up."_

 _"It's my favorite photo of us." He wants to add how loves seeing her smile in pictures, and how her laughter could make flowers grow, and when she starts to get passionate about anything he just wants to wrap her up in his arms and kiss her until she can't speak._

 _"This is amazing," She looks back up at him, eyes sincere and bright, and right here in this stinky subway car, he swears she never looked more beautiful. "Thank you." She clutches the locket in her hand, wrapping the other one around his neck. When he locks his arms around her waist, he pulls her in tightly, enjoying every bit of her._

 _And she's overcome with the desire to kiss him, to feel his lips on hers, to finally take the plunge._

 _But, he is not hers._

 _She loves him._

 _But, he is not hers._

 _So, she tries not to let her shoulders slump when they part ways and she's left alone for the night._

* * *

"Your expense? Are you serious, Maya?" She couldn't believe the words coming out of Maya's mouth, it occurred to her this might all be a terrible nightmare and any minute she'll wake up and everything will be fine. If only they hadn't almost had a fight like this before, then maybe she could convince herself that her alarm will go off and all of this will be over. The betrayal and anger sweeping over was just too real to be created by her subconscious, no matter how much she wanted it to be.

"Yes, I'm serious, I've kept my mouth shut for so long for you. I didn't want to make you sad."

"So all this time you've been pining after my boyfriend, and you couldn't tell me you at least _liked_ him?"

"I haven't been _pining,_ he's my best friend! How was I supposed to tell you Riley, when I knew you would react like this?" She wants to add that he's not her boyfriend, but she holds her tongue.

Riley takes a seat at the bay window, shaking her head. She was in complete and utter disbelief at what was happening.

"How could you do this to me Maya?"

This seemed to anger Maya more than anything she had said before.

"I did this to you? Riley, have you even thought about what this has been like for me? How I've been trying to deal with this? How this is affecting me?"

Riley stays silent, watching the anger in the room boil and spill over.

"No, you haven't! You don't know what this does to me, how horrible I've felt keeping this from you, how sick this has made me? What I've felt?" Maya scoffs and crosses her arms over her chest, eyes glistening with unshed tears. She truly hates herself right now, she hates everything.

"So maybe now you know how I feel right now!" She springs up out of her seat, fresh anger in her voice. "This isn't you taking my black polka dot cardigan, or red sling purse. Wait, did you go behind my back and-"

"No! I would never! No matter what I was feeling, never in a million years would I betray you like that!" Maya runs a quick hand through her tangled mane, it's grown quite long sitting just above her small waist. "How could you possibly think that?"

"I don't know. Betrayal seems to be the theme of the day."

* * *

 _So in love._

 _So in love._

 _So in love._

 _That's all Maya thinks as she splatters paint on the canvas in the art room. It's 4th day this week she's spent her lunch in there. She has no clue what she's working on or even what colors she's using at the moment, but all she can taste is blood in her mouth and all she sees is pain everywhere she looks. It's beyond exhausting to continue such a sick cycle, and her dark circles are getting dark circles._

 _It's easy to tell she's barely slept the last few days, she hasn't bothered to comb her hair, or change her bra and t-shirt. Still, she brushes her teeth and takes a shower, caring about body hygiene has always been a star point for her._

 _She's been avoiding Lucas and Riley all week, another star point for her._

 _Now, she's almost a pro at rounding corners and lying and excuses and leaving. She's garbage. She throws another glob of paint on the canvas and grunts in frustration._

 _"Knock, knock."_

 _She half expects Lucas, but she knows the voice is Zay's. "Yeah?" He comes around to her beside the easel, taking in the mess that was her and her work._

 _Zay nods and makes approving sounds. "Angry Girl Who's So In Love With A Cowboy, She Can Barely Stand It?"_

 _Maya lets out deep laugh at him, feeling somewhat lighter. "It's more 'Frantic Teenager Can't Control Deep Feelings For A Huckleberry'."_

 _"Ahh, of course, I can see that with the red and blue in the middle." She releases another unexpected laugh and drops her paintbrush. "Are you okay?"_

 _It's a loaded question, something she's not used to with Zay. If she could count on him for anything, it's easy laughter. So, it catches her off guard and she has no choice but to answer honestly._

 _"No. Not in the least."_

 _"You gotta tell her how you feel."_

 _The idea is immediately dismissed."I can't. It'll ruin her. That's why I haven't told her. You know that."_

 _"That's not why."_

 _"Huh?"_

 _Zay looks serious and shakes his head. "That's not why you haven't told her. It wouldn't matter if you told her you love him. It's because she'll figure out that he loves you too. That's why. You know that'll hurt her more than anything else."_

 _"I can't break her heart, Zay."_

 _"So you'll let your heart be broken, everyday? You can't hide forever." Maya takes a look around the art room, and at her messy canvas, and then at Zay's knowing expression._

 _"I can try."_

 _"He misses you."_

 _She jumps off her stool, turning to face out the window."Don't! Don't tell me that. I can't, please, don't say that."_

 _"It's breaking him apart, you know," Zay continues. "Not seeing you. He talks about you." His words invade her ears and she can't shut him out. "He talks about your laugh, and your smile, and your eyes. The way he talks about you almost makes me fall in love with you."_

 _"Please don't, I can barely deal with one Texan."_

 _"He loves you."_

 _"No."_

 _"And you love him."_

 _"No."_

 _"You guys belong together."_

 _Maya looks out the window, staring intensely at birds in the grass. "He belongs with Riley."_

 _"Riley's an angel, she is. But, she doesn't rile him up, she doesn't make him fight for her, she doesn't bring out the passion he has locked inside of him. I've known him for so long, Maya, and he only gets that way with you." Zay walks next to her at the window. "It's no accident."_

 _"Zay, it'll destroy her."_

 _His voice goes deeper and he sounds almost mad. "But, it's already destroying you. I'm saying this because I care for you, Maya. I want you to be happy, and Lucas makes you happy, anyone can see that."_

 _Maya looks at him, eyes pleading with him to leave it alone. "Riley's my sister and she deserves to the best of this world."_

 _"That doesn't mean you get the scum of it. You're not obligated to take rocks to give her diamonds."_

 _He begins walking away, leaving her at the window by herself._

 _"Zay?"_

 _"Yeah?"_

 _"Thanks."_

* * *

"Well, I didn't."

Riley searches her eyes for lies, for hate, but only finds pain and anger.

"He's my boyfriend, Maya. Why can't you understand that? He was mine first!"

"No! Why can't you understand that he is Lucas Friar, a person. His own person, a being on this planet. He is not your property, he is not something you own, your name is not written on him. He has his own feelings and thoughts and emotions. Ones that neither of us could control even if we wanted to. I can't do anything about what he thinks of me or you, or how he feels about us. I wish I could, but I can't."

Maya sighs, leaning against the door.

"I can't control a lot of things, Riley. I can't. I tried to hold it in and hide it, but it made me _miserable._ I can't, no, I refuse to forfeit my happiness for yours. I deserve something, I deserve to feel happy. I deserve it."

Her hand sits on the door knob for what feels like hours before she whispers out her final words.

"I'm sorry, but I refuse to let this become a tragedy."

* * *

 _A.P. Art History is by far Maya's favorite class and she's glad her school offers the course, but she can barely focus on anything but the crumbles of what used to be an okay life for her._

 _When she's not running from Riley, she's hiding from Lucas, and when she's not doing that, Zay's voice rings in her ears._

 _The final bell for the day rings and she exhales slowly, now it's only another 17 minutes to get to her locker, put her things away and sprint to the subway. She's shoving her books in as quickly as she can when Lucas comes beside her, standing over her shoulder. He smells like honey and forest trees, so she tries not to swoon at his presence._

 _"What?" Her voice is meant to sound strong and indignant, but it cracks on the vowel and she hates herself for it._

 _"Are you mad at me?" Lucas is straight to the point, because he knows the first chance she gets, she'll run._

 _She visibly tenses and he easily notices. "Are you mad at me?" She echoes back with a thick country drawl._

 _It's easy, revert back to light teasing, steer the conversation away from feelings. She's still facing away from him, knowing her eyes would give away her fear and pain at what might happen._

 _"Don't do that, Maya." His voice is stern and it makes her shudder slightly. "Don't play this off, what's wrong? What did I do?"_

 _"You didn't do anything."_

 _"Then why don't you answer my calls or texts? Why do you run from me in the halls? Why...why do you shut me out?"_

 _"I have to."_

 _"Why?"_

 _"To protect Riley. If I let this happen, if I let **us** happen, it'll break her heart. I can't break her heart." Her eyes sting with her words, and she wants to be strong, but she's too sad to speak with power._

 _"So what about your heart? What about my heart? What about how I feel?"_

 _Silence._

 _"I broke up with Riley yesterday."_

 _Maya spins around so fast Lucas catches a mouth full of blonde hair. "What? Why?"_

 _"Because she loves me." He breathes, taking in her disheveled appearance. Her eyes are puffy, like she hasn't slept in days, and her face is pale and blotchy, hidden partly by the chaotic curls that seem to form a curtain around her. He drops his baseball bag to the the ground by his feet, ready for what comes to him. "But, I'm in love with someone else."_

 _"Please, don't."_

 _He does._

 _"I'm in love with you."_

 _His eyes are piercing her soul with those words and she wants to kiss him and slap him right now._

 _It's the best worst thing to say right now. Maya's dreamed of hearing those words from him, and now it couldn't sound more right coming from his lips. But, she has a sister, one she promised herself she would look out for. She said she would protect her no matter what, broken arms and broken hearts. This was like the ultimate betrayal and she's so mad that she wanted this so bad. It's here and she wants to leave and stay._

 _And now she's standing on her tippy toes, and he's leaning down. It's right there. His lips and hers, she'll take the plunge. She'll give it her all and wreck herself like never before. She'll be messed up and stupid in love. She wants it. She wants it now._

 _Maya locks an arm around his neck, and Lucas slips both arms around her waist. It's so perfect, she's ready._

 _"Maya? Lucas?"_

 _The voice is a cross between a shriek and a gasp coming from down the hall. Maya jerks her head in the direction and sees Riley standing alone, breaking apart. Riley disappears down the corridor, and Maya tears herself away from Lucas, preparing to run after her when he catches her wrist._

 _"I can't." It's more of plead than a statement and he nods._

 _"When you're ready to stop denying yourself happiness, you know where I'll be." He releases her wrist and pick up his bag and walks in the opposite direction._

 _After not moving for what could've been 10 years, Maya lets an an aggravated shout, slams her locker shut, hoists her bag over her shoulder and chases after Riley._

 _She breaks a sweat when she runs off the subway to Riley's home, and she rushes in through the unlocked door meeting Cory, Topanga and Auggie all sitting on the couch._

 _"Bay window." They speak in unison, she nods, shutting the door behind her, she drops her bag and jogs into Riley's room._

 _Riley's pacing in her room, end to end, mumbling to herself. When Maya steps in, she stops moving, she stops speaking. Maya takes a deep breath and closes the room door._

 _"Riley..."_

 _"How could you!?" There was no quiet buildup, it was straight to the yelling._

 _"Riles..."_

 _"Maya, I trusted you! I told you how I felt about him, how he made me feel, and you went and you-you-you crapped all over it!" Riley's voice breaks, but she continues shouting at her. "I mean I saw what was going on between you guys, but I thought I was over thinking things! I thought that maybe I was looking too hard. 'She's my sister, she would never.' That's what I told myself. But, you did! You did it! You stole my boyfriend!"_

 _"I didn't steal him." It's a pathetic attempt at defending herself._

 _"He broke up with me, because he's in love with someone else. You! It's you! He loves you! I can't believe you'd just rip him out from under me like that!"_

 _"I never told him to break up with you! He did that all on his own, I tried to stay away, Riles."_

 _"And that only made him want you more!" Riley's face is red and she's huffing loudly. "Congratulations!"_

 _Maya takes a few steps towards her, trying to close the gap. "I didn't mean to, I didn't want him to."_

 _"Well, he did! You got what you wanted, you got my boyfriend!" Maya shakes at the anger she's never heard Riley to speak to her with before. "How could you betray me like this?"_

 _This sets off tsunamis in Maya's mind and the words are spilling off her lips before she can stop them._

 _"Because I **love** him!"_

 _"What?"_

* * *

Maya shuts the door behind her, allowing herself to stop and breathe.

She steps into the living room expecting to see the Matthews sitting on the couch, staring at her. But, surprisingly, it's totally empty. Her bag is still on the floor where she left it.

Her breathing is shallow, and she stoops down, picking up her bag and exiting the residence. Her feet seem to know where she's going before her brain can process it and she's jogging this time because it needs to happen now.

Bounding off the subway, she's at her school's baseball field, and stands in the shadows until the coach ends practice for the night. She watches as Lucas heads to the locker room, and she runs, once again, until she's right in front of him.

Through the smell of dirt and sweat, she can still smell the honey and if she weren't so focused on the situation she would fling herself around him and inhale deeply. She takes in his appearance, hair matted to his forehead, dirt covering the knees of his sweats, and the veins she could clearly see running up his arm. Dragging her eyes up, they lock on his strong jaw and she wants to run her fingers along the contours of his face, it's only then she realizes he's speaking to her.

"What?" Really smooth, Maya.

"What's going on Maya?"

"I'm ready." It's as simple as it gets, and when he breaks into a smile, she's glad he didn't forget what she was talking about.

He leans down, like he did only a few hours earlier, and Maya's faintly aware that the entire varsity baseball team is watching this exchange take place. She wraps a slim arm around his neck, while letting her bag slide off her other arm. Lucas' arms settle around her waist again, hugging her body to his.

"Say it." Lucas breathes on to her lips.

She's barely paying attention, her eyes are slipping shut in anticipation. "I love you."

His lips finally descend on hers, when he tugs her in closer. It's pure bliss for Maya, everything she's been waiting for and more. His tongue swipes against her bottom lip and she opens her mouth, allowing him in. It's not a battle for control like they usually have, it's a relaxed dance in her mouth.

"Yeah, finally, kiss the hell out of her Lucas!" Arnie yells from behind him. The team erupts in a mix of laughter and cheer, some groans of 'finally' can be heard in the corners.

Maya chuckles in the kiss, and Lucas nips at her bottom lip before pulling away. "I love you, too."

They're kissing again, and Maya's smiling too hard to kiss him properly this time. He's laughing this time, and now she buries her face in his neck, taking in his scent.

"You're sweaty." She speaks into his skin.

"And?"

"It's disgusting." That's a total lie, but she can't help but say it.

"You love me."

"As if." He pecks kisses on her lips and then her cheeks and forehead until she's giggling at him. "Go shower, Huckleberry."

They were so meant to be, it wasn't easy. But, it happens. They're Maya and Lucas. Shortstack and Huckleberry. They're full of deep gazes, and quick arguments, with intense kisses and passionate love.

Who's never played with fire before?

* * *

 **So that very much happened.**

 **The quote came from the song "Soap" by Melanie Martinez, who I absolutely adore. Listen to the Billboard Studio Version.  
**

 **I do not own the preceding story at all, only the plot.**

 **The only reason I didn't write a resolution for Riley and Maya was because I wanted to leave it open for interpretation, a set ending for them is so boring, and Lucaya was basically the main point of the story.**

 **Tiramisuspice is my inspiration, I love her stories so much, she's my everything.**

 **I like this a lot, and I have about 5 more stories on my Doc right now, so check in later.**

 **\- Minnie (Yes, this actually my name.)**


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